1. Jazz in the Park, it’s back June 4th and despite the drama, will be just like it has been in years past.  River Rhythms starts across the river on June 10th, and Chill on the Hill kicks off June 2nd.

2. Bike racks on buses, they’re coming.

3. The Milwaukee RiverWalk, take a stroll along the RiverWalk where the built environment meets the natural environment.  It’s not just for walking though, eat to your hearts content at Rock Bottom Brewery, the Milwaukee Ale House, or the Water Buffalo (by no means a complete list of RiverWalk eateries).   Lakefront Brewery has a nice RiverWalk segment and they serve beer, check that out.

4. RiverSplash gets the festival season going early, starting on June 5th.  Hopefully there will be a few more street closings this year to calm the crowds.  Seriously, we close way too few streets downtown for events.  If pedestrian overcrowding was a concern, just make the area bigger.

5. The Bastille Days run.  An athletic urbanist’s dream, what other event lets you run through the streets of downtown Milwaukee with only the fear of getting hit by a stroller?  Milwaukee needs more runs in the city.  The lakefront is great, but nothing compares to running through the city streets with 10,000 other people.  North Avenue?  Brady Street?  Westown?  All would be fun.

What did I miss?

The Edge

The Edge

The North End

The North End

Aloft

St. Patrick’s Day is always one of my favorite days of the year, though often the day after is one of my least favorite, because everybody comes out and has a good time.  It seems as if Milwaukee comes out of hibernation on this day, and the streets are bustling with people.  But it also reminds me that everyday somebody says “I think I can drive.”  I don’t need the news to tell me that people jumped in their cars on St. Patrick’s Day who had no business driving, I’m sure some did.

This is terrible and to make matters worse it is a completely avoidable problem.

Recent high profile drunk driving incidents have spurred a lot of discussion championing tougher penalties.  Generally speaking I don’t have a problem with making the penalties for driving drunk stiffer and I’m sure by doing so that can reduce the number of drunk drivers.  Further, there is no doubt that guys like Mark Benson need to be behind bars or institutionalized so tougher laws could be of assistance.  But I believe there are factors beyond how tougher or weak Wisconsin’s law are that play a role in this problem.  In the past I discussed how our culture and some of our zoning laws actually encourage drunk driving, so I have a suggestion that will allow you to never drive drunk.

This solution is often is hinted at when for example on St. Patrick’s Day the Milwaukee County Transit System offers free bus service.  What this says is that the solution to drunk driving is to eliminate the driving.  I know it’s crazy, but if you live in a walkable mixed-use neighborhood there is no need to drive when you go out on the town.  Neighborhoods like East Town, the East Side, Bay View, and Riverwest to name just a few all offer the advantage of being able to walk to your corner tavern.  It’s not to say that people who live in the city don’t drive drunk, there are surly people who do, but when you can walk a couple of blocks to the tavern you’ll never be the person saying “I think I can drive.”

It’s simple really.  You’ll never drive drunk if you don’t drive.  So live in a neighborhood where you can go out and get home safely without a car.  And if you can’t do that, please, at least take a cab.

UrbanMilwaukee.com was recently taken behind the construction fence for a tour of the first building, ONE, to be complete in the  Mandel Group’s The North End project.  We toured only the residential units in the building, although there will street-level retail space completed in the coming months along Water Street.

The green roof on the second floor, although far from finished, seemed impressive and a unique asset to the project.  The entertainment room, available to all residents, provides direct access to the green roof.

The parking garage is pretty well hidden, and isn’t visible from street-level on Water Street, a nice touch.

The sound-proofing between units seems significantly better than Mandel’s East Pointe neighborhood, although comparing the quality of construction between the two is essentially comparing apples to oranges (East Pointe was built in the early 90s before anything else was happening in downtown residential development).  Insulation on interior walls should help (both with heating and noise), as well as the concrete between floors.

The views from each unit offer nice angles on the rest of the city, and most angles will improve

Unit prices are as follows.

• Studios start at $1,040
• One bedrooms start at $1300
• One bedrooms w/ den start at $1275
• Two bedrooms start at $1700
• Two bedrooms w/ den start at $1850
• Three bedrooms start at $2200

As far as retail goes, discussions have taken place with Alterra and other retailers, but no dotted lines have been signed yet.

Photo Gallery

Click on an image once for the image page, and again for a full-sized image.

A group of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Association Senators, Tyler Kristopeit, Matt Capristo, Anthony Dewees, and Travis Romero-Boeck, and Jimmy Lemke will be proposing a bill at the March 29th Student Association Senate meeting to consider changing the university’s name from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the University of Milwaukee.

Really though, does the name matter?  Is this just some college students’ crazy idea?  No, I don’t think so, because brand matters even to a university.  This idea that brand and image matters came up a few years ago when a group pushed for a change to Wisconsin State University.  This seemed like a move in the right direction but much like hyphenated schools “State” schools sometimes have a bit of a second class status as well.  For example, to this day if I tell someone that I went to “Iowa State University” it turns into a ten minute discussion explaining “No, not the Hawkeyes,” with followup questions such as, “why didn’t you go to Iowa?”  Don’t get me wrong I’ll always be a Cyclone and I am aware of a few high profile “State” schools, but my experience leads me to think that Wisconsin State University wouldn’t of been much an improvement over the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

This time a group of students have suggested the right name, the University of Milwaukee.  It clearly sheds the technical school sound by dropping the hyphen and avoids the “State” school stigma by avoiding a Wisconsin State University or worse Milwaukee State University name.  Further this name ties the school directly and tightly to what makes the school unique, the fact that is located in the middle of a dense urban environment, the City of Milwaukee.

Companies control their brand to increase sales and build loyalty.  The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee needs to consider the value of its brand for similar reasons, for recruitment and to strengthen its ties to the community.  I know students are supposed to look at where they go to to college rationally by looking at which school best meet their requirements but I think it is fair to say this just isn’t always true.  Further, it is possible that out of state students who aren’t all that familiar with the UW system overlook the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee because they think it is a technical school, or that it is a smaller branch of the University of Wisconsin.

I know to alumni this might sound like a challenge to their personal history and could in the short run weaken their connection to the university, but overtime this can be repaired.  While the bigger picture is that this could be one of the steps, as well as the expanded research initiatives, that the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee should make to improve its image in an attempt to recruit more students and possibly more qualified students.  It might not be the game changer that significant expansion would be, but as part of a process of creating a new identity for the university, names matter.

That said, if they were to approve this name change I do wonder what they would do with UW-Tosa?

Urban Milwaukee’s Upcoming Events & Meetings Calendar should help you keep up to date on important events effecting our neighborhoods, the City of Milwaukee, and our region.

March 16, 2009

Historic Preservation Commission

March 16, 2009 3:00 pm

The Milwaukee Historic Preservation Commission (HPC)  administers Milwaukee’s historic preservation ordinance, adopted in 1981, which provides certain kinds of legal protection for buildings or sites that have been declared historic by the Common Council. The HPC is responsible for designating historic landmarks and historic districts and for approving Certificates of Appropriateness (COAs) for permission to [...]

March 17, 2009

Public Open House for the Near South Side Plan

March 17, 2009 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Public Open House for the Near South Side Plan
March 17, 2009
3:00 – 7:00 PM, short presentations at 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm [...]

City of Milwaukee: Near North Side Area Plan – Image Preference Survey

March 17, 2009 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

The Image Preference Survey (IPS) is a planning technique that helps us understand how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. We will show about 75 neighborhood images (some from the Near North Side and some from other places). You will be asked to rate each image based on your [...]

March 19, 2009

City of Milwaukee: Near North Side Area Plan – Image Preference Survey

March 19, 2009 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

The Image Preference Survey (IPS) is a planning technique that helps us understand how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. We will show about 75 neighborhood images (some from the Near North Side and some from other places). You will be asked to rate each image based on your [...]

Board of Zoning Appeals

March 19, 2009 4:00 pm

The Board of Zoning Appeals (BOZA) is in independent agency authorized to hear appeals in matters relating to all zoning ordinances and to review zoning ordinance interpretations made by the Department of City Development. Because the Board acts somewhat like a court, it is called a quasi-judicial body and is required to follow accepted procedures [...]

City of Milwaukee: Southwest Side Area Plan

March 19, 2009 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

We Need Your InputWe want to hear from you about how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. Please attend an Image Preference Survey. The Image Preference Survey (IPS) is a planning technique that helps us understand how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. [...]

March 20, 2009

Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development

March 20, 2009 9:00 am

The Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee reviews issues relating to city development, zoning, historic preservation, incremental tax financing, building codes and housing projects.The Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee meetings start at 9:00 a.m. and are held in the Room 301-B, City Hall, unless otherwise noted. [...]

Finance & Personnel

March 20, 2009 1:30 pm

The Finance and Personnel Committee considers appropriations, finances, taxation, revenues, labor relations, personnel, pensions and other benefits, insurance, audits and city budget.The Finance and Personnel Committee meetings start at 1:30 p.m. and are held in the Room 301-B, City Hall, unless otherwise noted. [...]

The Finance and Personnel Committee considers appropriations, finances, taxation, revenues, labor relations, personnel, pensions and other benefits, insurance, audits and city budget.

The Finance and Personnel Committee meetings start at 1:30 p.m. and are held in the Room 301-B, City Hall, unless otherwise noted.

Agenda

The Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee reviews issues relating to city development, zoning, historic preservation, incremental tax financing, building codes and housing projects.

The Zoning, Neighborhoods and Development Committee meetings start at 9:00 a.m. and are held in the Room 301-B, City Hall, unless otherwise noted.

Agenda

Please join the Near North Side Area comprehensive planning team for an interactive exchange of ideas.   Thursday, March 26, 6 to 8 PM

Contact: Bob Harris, 286.5654 or robert.harris@milwaukee.gov

Eaton Corporation
4201 N. 27th St
Milwaukee, WI

Enter Eaton at east entrance. Parking spaces are available but limited. On-street parking is also available. Questions?

More Information:
http://www.mkedcd.org/planning/plans/NearNorth/index.html